“Les Deux Arbres”, literally translated as “The Two Trees”, conceived in 1964–66, is among Gudmar Olovson’s foremost sculptures and without doubt his best-known work in a public space. The embracing couple are intimately pictured before they kiss. The title likens them to two growing trees whose branches intertwine, growing together as one, and Gudmar himself described it as follows: “A man and a woman, like two pine trees, are growing close to one another in a strong relationship”. The inspiration for the work came when he saw a couple in the Bois de Boulogne who, while barely touching each other, radiated an intimate energy which made him start to sketch and then make a clay sculpture of the subject. The models he used were Stig Gerson and his girlfriend and the first cast version was shown at the Swedish Club at Champs Élysées in Paris as early as 1961.
The couple was an important and frequent subject for Olovson, and one he worked on in sculpture, relief and drawings. Fascinated by how two separate individuals meld together through both movement and mutual internal energy, Gudmar Olovson captures the affinity between a couple in masterly fashion. “Les Deux Arbres” has become a timeless symbol of love and togetherness.
Since 2001, a monumental version of the sculpture, as is the cast piece in the auction, has stood in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris; a gift from Swedish industry and the Wallenberg family to the population of Paris. It is now a much-loved presence in the park where it invites rest and contemplation. It is also represented in the Garden of Love at Château de Cheverny in the Loire, and since 2008 has been able to be viewed at Falsterbo Open Air Museum in Höllviken in Sweden as one of five monumental sculptures displayed along the shoreline. Other prominent locations of versions of the statue include Château Pétrus outside Bordeaux and in front of Ferrings Head Quarter in Ørestad near Copenhagen.